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Over/Under: Ryan Howard on the rebound

After three rough seasons, Ryan Howard is bouncing back. (Getty)
After three rough seasons, Ryan Howard is bouncing back. (Getty)

Phillies slugger Ryan Howard was persona non grata in spring fantasy drafts following a rough three-year stretch, but he's been much better than expected in '15, owning a 34-HR pace to go with a palattable .261 batting average. Can Howard maintain this renewed level of respectability - O/U final '15 batting average of .2499 and 25.5 HRs?

Brandon – OVER on both. Howard is actually a career .265 hitter, and only once in a full season has he hit below .250, so I think he has a reasonable chance to go over this mark (but not by much). As for the home runs, I think he finishes at least in the upper 20s range if he can log 600 plate appearances.

Scott –  I hate to say UNDER because Howard's a fun guy to root for, especially when you consider how so much of the Internet ganged up on him in recent years. But high-strikeout, high-FB hitters tend to be the streakiest types of hitters, for good and for bad. It's a perfect time to see if you can lock in the profits. Someone in your league needs pop and might be ready to overpay.

Andy – UNDER on the average, OVER on the homers. At this stage of the season, batting average can swing significantly, day-to-day. In fact, if Howard were to go 0-for-4 in each of his next two games, he would be hitting .248. His high-strikeout profile doesn't fill me with hope. But the power is clearly real, and that's why you drafted him. If the man remains healthy, he can easily top 25.

Those owners in need of cheap speed likely have at least a few options to choose from. Rank the following players, all with a Yahoo ownership rate currently at under 60 percent, in terms of rest-of-season value - Jake Marisnick, Delino DeShields, Nori Aoki, Rajai Davis, Billy Burns, Ben Revere

Dalton – 1) Revere 2) Davis 3) Aoki 4) Burns 5) DeShields 6) Marisnick

Andy – 1) Burns, 2) Davis, 3) Revere, 4) Aoki, 5) DeShields, 6) Marisnick. (It was fun while it lasted, Jake.)

Scott – Davis is the tricky guy to rank here, because he's not a full-time player if Victor Martinez makes it back. But maybe that won't be an issue. If the Rangers committed to DeShields as a full-timer, he'd rocket up this list. As for Burns, I want to know why he's still unowned in 90 percent of Yahoo leagues. Go look at that minor league profile again. You want to be in on this. 1) Revere, 2) Aoki, 3) Davis, 4) Burns, 5) Marisnick, 6) DeShields

Former Padres top 5 prospect Logan Forsythe is currently enjoying post-hype success for Tampa Bay in a Ben Zobrist-esque utility role. Forsythe entered the season with just 18 career home runs and 19 stolen bases in a little under 1,000 MLB at bats, but he's on pace for 18/11 in those categories this season alone. Can Forsythe keep up a double/double pace - O/U final line of 14.5 HR and 9.5 SB?

Brandon – Let's go UNDER on the HRs but OVER on the SBs. Forsythe has never gone over this HR tally in a professional season, but he has gone over this SB mark four times as a pro. And Tampa Bay has the eighth most stolen base attempts in the league, thus far, so he'll likely keep getting plenty of opportunities to run as long as he's getting the playing time.

Scott –   UNDER. I love to believe in these sorts of out-of-nowhere stories - give that man a Wiggy - but Forsythe's resume was so underwhelming prior to this year, I can't buy in fully. He essentially becomes a forced hold (not unlike Paredes Island in Baltimore) because I doubt anyone will pay for him like he's real, and you can't take the chance that he isn't. But I think he falls slightly under the numbers listed here. 

Andy – UNDER. Congrats on your very good month-and-a-half, Logan. Good job.

Anthony Rizzo's professional career-high in stolen bases is 10, set in the Red Sox organization in '10. He already has nine SBs for the Cubs this year (on 12 attempts), matching his HR tally. How far does this surprise speed breakout take Rizzo - O/U 9.5 steals for the rest of the season?

Scott –  OVER, because Anthony Rizzo can do whatever he wants. Did you know that from 2014 to today, he's the best NL hitter against left-handed pitching? That is absurd for a lefty hitter. He'll be in the MVP race all year. As for the steals, for most players, it's just a case of wanting to do it, putting forth the effort. Rizzo wants to do it. 

Andy – OVER. If we think the .400-plus OBP is real (and I do), then Rizzo will have plenty of opportunities. Joe Maddon puts baserunners in motion constantly. I'd give Bryant a decent shot at 10 rest-of-season steals, too.

Dalton – UNDER. Going with career track record here, although it's clear the Cubs are running like crazy this year (ranking second in stolen bases among all teams this season).

The fantasy shortstop position has been woefully lacking this season, as only five SS-eligible players currently rank inside the top 150. For those looking for some SS help, rank these players - all at least 40% available - in terms of ROS fantasy value: Adeiny Hechavarria, Jean Segura, Addison Russell, Zack Cozart, Andrelton Simmons, J.J. Hardy?

Brandon –  1) Russell 2) Segura 3) Simmons 4) Cozart 5) Hardy 6) Hechavarria 

Andy – 1) Simmons, 2) Russell, 3) Segura, 4) Cozart, 5) Hardy, 6) Hechavarria

Dalton – 1) Simmons 2) Cozart 3) Russell 4) Hardy 5) Segura 6) Hechavarria

Speaking of the SS position, it's expected to get a shot in the arm when Houston premium prospect Carlos Correa is called up (estimated to be sometime in June). Assuming Correa gets called up in the next two weeks, give us a ROS projection for batting average, home runs and stolen bases.

Brandon –  In roughly 100 games, let's call it .260 with 8 HR and 15 SB

Andy – I'll give him a .267-7-17 line, but there's a wide range of outcomes here. He's coming off a big day at Fresno (2-for-4, HR), but so far he's really only treading water at Triple-A. He was destroying everything thrown his way in the Texas League earlier this year.

Dalton – .255-8-18

Shelby Miller is currently ranked as a top 5 fantasy starter. His previous best  finish was No. 20 among SPs in '13. Can Miller continue his strong run in '15 and post his best roto finish of his career - O/U 19.5 final fantasy ranking among starters?

Brandon –   OVER. Let's see, his BABIP (.206) is lowest among all qualified starters, his Strand Rate (87.1%) is fourth-highest among starters, and his HR/FB rate is about 40 percent lower than his career norm. He's likely to be a upper 3s ERA guy (at best) the rest of the way, and I think that'll eventually knock him over this mark.

Dalton – OVER. Probably by a wide margin. His 12.9 K-BB% is around his career mark of 11.7. Miller has gotten better and is producing more grounders, but he's a clear candidate to regress in a big way.

Scott –  OVER is the only play, not that I think owners have to switch into sell mode. But Miller's strikeout rate is ordinary, his homer clip fortunate. The Atlanta offense could eventually be a problem for him, too.

Rank the following pitch-to-contact starters, all currently ranked among the fantasy top 150 despite a sub-6.5 K/9 rate, in terms of ROS value: Dallas Keuchel, Michael Wacha, Alfredo Simon, Chris Young, Aaron Harang, Dan Haren, Nick Martinez

Brandon – 1) Wacha 2) Keuchel 3) Simon 4) Haren 5) Harang 6) Young 7) Martinez

Dalton –  1) Wacha 2) Keuchel 3) Haren 4) Harang 5) Martinez 6) Simon 7) Young

Scott – Wacha gets a slight edge over Keuchel because of the NL environment, but Keuchel is also a blast to own, too, for both obvious (all those grounders) and hidden reasons. They're miles ahead of the rest of this pool. 1) Wacha, 2) Keuchel . . . big gap to 3) Harang, 4) Simon, 5) Young, 6) Haren, 7) Martinez

Stephen Strasburg has reached 6.0 IP in just two of his nine starts and currently sports a 6.50 ERA, well more than three runs above his career average. With a FIP (3.66) that speaks to some misfortune, can Strasburg find some luck over the next four months - O/U rest-of-season ERA 3.499?

Scott – OVER on general principle. The velocity is fine, the swinging strike rate is not. Strasburg seems to struggle with One Bad Inning syndrome, which makes me think the problems are mostly in his head. The two best parts of Strasburg ownership are the day you draft him and the day you trade him; he's good, but never seems to be as good as his ADP tag demands.From 2012-2014, he has a 3.10 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP, fine numbers, but not what you think you're gettting in March. I'm not on the bus...

Andy – At this point in the season, it's tough to write off a 6-something ERA as an accident of luck. You have to be doing something wrong to post numbers that bad. Contact-rate against him is up, his line-drive percentage is way up, and his swinging-strike rate is way down. These are not good things. If we'd set this number closer to 3.65, I may have been tempted. But at 3.50, I gotta go OVER.

Dalton – UNDER. His career ERA is 3.24 despite giving up 32 earned runs over 44.1 innings so far this season. His velo has remained intact, but I'll admit his big drop in SwStr% is worrisome. I have no idea what to make of Strasburg, other than he's killing many of my teams.

Rank the following highly-ranked, non-closing relievers in terms of expected ROS value: Will Harris, Carlos Villanueva, Carson Smith, Tony Watson, Roberto Osuna

Brandon – 1) Smith, 2) Harris, 3) Osuna, 4) Watson, 5) Villanueva

Scott –  I'm over the moon for Carson Smith and as stubborn as Lloyd McClendon might be at times, Fernando Rodney needs to rally soon. 1) Smith, 2) Osuna, 3) Harris, 4) Watson, 5) Villanueva

Dalton – 1) Smith 2) Osuna 3) Watson 4) Harris 5) Villanueva